Davis Cup Site Proves to Be a Real Winner

It’s hard to blame Ken Stuart for gushing over the nearly flawless presentation of the Davis Cup quarterfinals at Palisades Tennis Club.

The club had three consecutive days of sellout crowds and barely a complaint. It was a little crammed, but when you jam 5,000 people into a venue that held about 1,500 until a few weeks ago, that will happen.

“If I were rating this from one to 10, I’d say a 17,” said Stuart, owner of the Palisades Club. “It’s been fantastic from an altruistic standpoint and fantastic for the sport of tennis. Last night, a high-up executive with the USTA told me this was the best Davis Cup that’s ever been done in the United States.”

Not bad for a club that only three years ago had problems entertaining 500 for a World Team Tennis club. Back then, the club was called the John Wayne Tennis Club and Stuart didn’t own it.

Back then, when the Newport Beach Dukes played here during the summer months for seven dates, parking was a major problem, club members were often whining about having to give up their court time for a professional tennis team, and attendance was often dreadful, unless Jimmy Connors or Martina Navratilova came to town.

But Stuart said all that is ancient history.

“I believe the Palisades Tennis Club is the finest in the world,” Stuart said. “And now after this weekend, there’s thousands of other people who believe that too.”

Last night at the USTA commemorative ball, Stuart said USTA president Harry A. Marmion indicated to him that another Davis Cup here is a possibility.

“He said they’d love to come back,” Stuart said. “I don’t think I’d do it again in six months, but I’d like to do it. We’re not big enough to host a finals, but maybe a semifinal or something. It’s just phenomenal that [Davis Cup promoter] Russ Cline and I were able to put this together in six weeks.”